The Miraculous Misadventures of Attina and Alana
by Converse r life
Summary: Eight year old Attina and seven year old Alana find themselves wrapped up in an adventure that will involve bravery, cunning, staying up past their bedtimes, protecting, and a few lost teeth.
1. Chapter 1: Convincing Groans

Attina took in a deep breath, her small chest coming inwards, before letting it out and having her chest expand again. She made sure that she didn't seem too excited, because then her parent's would think she was up to something. Hiding the thrill in her green eyes, she swallowed once, hoping this would work, before she swam into the throne room.

Her mother was sitting on the armrest of the throne, amusement clear on her face as she was looking down at her second-oldest-seven-year-old daughter, Alana, who was sitting on her father's lap happily chatting about something. Three year old Andrina, four year old Arista, five year old Aquata, and six year old Adella were all playing tag, darting in and out of columns and laughing as they tried hard not to get caught. It was a relaxed, fun environment that immediately made the oldest merprincess feel at home.

"Hi Momma!" Attina said happily, giving her mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Athena smiled warmly at her oldest daughter, giving a small laugh as Attina had wrapped her arms around her neck and nestled her head into her shoulder.

"Hello to you too sweetheart." Athena said with an easy laugh, patting her daughter with her free left hand. The two year old sleeping baby in her arms stirred then, starting to wake up and not too happy about it either as she opened her mouth to start wailing. Gently, the mother rocked the baby with her right arm, until she was peacefully asleep again, and thankfully not crying.

"Hi Ariel!" Attina said brightly, as only an eight year old could do. Leaning down, she gave Ariel a big wet kiss on her cheek, as Athena smiled at the cute picture.

Subconsciously, the Queen rubbed her two year old daughter's green tail, smiling softly to herself at that. With bright red, loose curls that fell to her shoulders, and big blue eyes, she was just as lovely as her other sisters. Swimming all over the palace, hiding herself away in the smallest of places, and one time even managing to get herself lost in the market, the child was already proving herself to be quite a handful. But, with bountiful energy, also comes bountiful exhaustion, which is why the baby was curled in her mother's warm arms at the moment, sleeping peacefully as she sucked her thumb.

"Mwah! Hi Daddy." Attina said, giving her father a kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck now. Triton smiled at his oldest daughter, chuckling as she quickly released him and swam in front of both her parents—and her second oldest sister for that matter.

"Can me and Alana go to the market Daddy? _Please?_" Attina knew asking her father was a safer bet than asking her mother. Her father would always allow his girls to go anywhere, with their adorable little pouts and big eyes. But, Athena overheard, and exchanged a look with Triton at that.

"The market? What's so great about the market?" Alana asked, well, more complained with a scrunched up nose. At seven years old, she and Attina were constantly partners in crime for everything they did. Sliding out of her father's lap, she swam up to her sister's face, a bit miffed that Attina would talk for her.

"I'll show you when we get there." Attina hissed through clenched teeth quickly, before looking back up at her parents who seemed to be having a silent conversation together. Alana quickly caught on, giving an 'oohhh' as she understood what her sister meant. Letting her bottom lip jut out, she let her eyes grow adorably big, so that their father would relent.

"I don't know." Athena said slowly, her forehead creasing up in concern. "It's so busy this time of day...you two could get lost so easily..." Athena bit her lip, her green eyes full of worry for her two oldest daughters.

"Puh-leeeaaasssee Momma?" Both girls begged, giving their mother and father very convincing pouts. Athena let out a sigh, running her fingers through her hair, before turning to her husband.

"Triton? What do you think?" The Queen asked her King, her lip still bitten and her forehead still creased in worry. Triton looked over at his two oldest daughters, who gave him their best pouts. Triton gave a surrendering sigh at that, and shook his head.

"As long as they stay together, than I see no problem." Triton finally said, as the girls gave each other cheerful smiles. One parent down, one more to go. But Athena was trickier to convince, because she herself had been a girl that age, and she knew all her daughter's tricks. Still, it was rather hard to say no when her girls were giving such adorable pouts. Ariel, who had been sleeping all this time, suddenly gave a yawn, slowly waking up as she blinked for a few minutes, her grogginess surrounding her vision.

"I guess you two can go then." Athena relented, smiling faintly as her two oldest girls gave cheers of happiness. Two year old Ariel sat up on her mother's lap, looking upwards at the woman with hopefulness in her tiny features.

"Me too?" The two year old asked, blinking once or twice and emitting another wide yawn out of her mouth. Both Triton and Athena shared the same smile at that, as Athena let her fingers straighten up her daughter's curls.

"No dear, not you. _You're_ going to nursery for a nap." Athena's warm voice said, leaning down to press a kiss against her baby daughter's forehead. Had Ariel been more fully awake, and if she had a better vocabulary, she would have complained incessantly at that. But she didn't, so instead, she let herself curl back up in her mother's arms and close her eyes lightly.

"Come on Alana!" Attina whooped, grabbing her sister's arm and starting to try and drag her out of the throne room. Athena still had a small frown on her face at that, as though she wasn't all too happy with the idea of her daughters going to the market all by themselves at only seven and eight. It was that moment though, that Sebastian scurried into the throne room—narrowly missing getting hit by Andrina's small tail—and Triton had a brilliant idea.

Attina was trying to drag Alana out of the throne room as fast she could, in case her parents got any idea on what she was up to, or they wanted to tell her to not go. But, she didn't succeed in her mission, because she still heard her father's voice behind her.

"Take Sebastian with you." Triton called out after his two daughters, who immediately stopped where they were at, frozen. Before they could stop it, two large groans released from their lips, as Sebastian's eyes went wide, and the crab nearly gave a groan himself.


	2. Chapter 2: I Just Can't Wait to be Queen

"Come on Alana! Hurry up!" Attina's voice hissed, grabbing her younger sister by the hand and trying to pull her along quicker. But alas, the younger, dark haired princess wasn't quite as fast as her older sister, which was why Attina was suddenly forced to stop.

"Princess…Attina…stop…not so…fast…!" Sebastian wheezed out, swimming in front of the girl and holding out an exhausted claw to make his point. Of all people, why was _he_ have to be the one to babysit the two oldest, and most reckless, princesses? The girl's were practically whirlpools; and he was just an old crab!

"Sebastian, we aren't even going fast!" Alana whined, mimicking her older sister by crossing her arms in front of her band in an annoyed fashion. Really though, if they couldn't shake Sebastian off soon, then this day would never be fun!

"Yeah Sebastian, you just gotta learn how to…" Attina's sentence trailed off then, as her eyes wandered towards the left of Sebastian, who was still panting heavily in front of her. Her green eyes finally connected with a merboy, about her age, looking miserable. However, when he caught sight of Attina gazing at him, he stuck out his tongue quickly, as did the young princess in response, before she watched the boy swim off to catch up with his mother.

"Who is dat?" Sebastian wondered, noticing the eldest merprincess's clearly sour expression. Maybe if he got the girl's thoughts off track, she would abandon this venture to the market, and so would her sister, leaving the crab to have some much needed peace and quiet! Oh how joyous!

"That's Nereus; he's in my class." The child stated matter of factly, turning her hypnotic green eyes back to Sebastian. "He has _morrats_ (**a/n** 'morrats' is polish for cooties)." Attina stated with another sour expression, her nose scrunching up at just the thought of it. _All _boys had morrats, but Nereus_ especially_ because he wouldn't let the young princess play make-believe-sharks with him one time.

"Ew! That's gross!" Alana squealed in disgust, her face scrunching up in horror. Morrats could very well be the worst possible disease in all the oceans!

"_Boys_ are gross." Attina corrected her sister, who quickly nodded in agreement. Why big girls were always kissing big boys, she would never understand. It's as if they weren't afraid of getting morrats! Never in a million _years_ would Attina kiss a boy; never, ever, ever!

"Well, you aren't gonna dink dat forever. One day you _are_ gonna get married to a boy." Sebastian said mildly, his big mouth unknowingly starting to get him in trouble. Both merprincesses looked at each other in horror at his words.

"No way!" Both girls shrieked at the same time, their voices lost amongst the crowd of busy merpeople buying this and that in the market place.

"Yes way." The crab defended his point, still not realizing that his words were going to be the end of him soon. "As Queen, Attina, you'll have to marry so you can have children for the kingdom." Sebastian reminded despite the sour looks that the two princesses shared with one another.

"Well, when I'm Queen I'll be different." Attina said with a firm undertone in her voice. Her green eyes started to shine at just the thought, a slow, mischievous smile coming onto her lips.

_"I'm gonna be a mighty queen, so enemies beware!"_ The girl sang happily putting her hands on her hips and puffing her small chest out in pride. But Sebastian just rolled his eyes at the child.

_"Well, I've neva seen a Queen or ding, not all quite there." _The crab said in response to the girl, who ignored him completely, as she grabbed a toy sword that had most likely been lost by a poor child earlier on, and thrust it out.

_"I'm gonna be the main event, like no Queen was before! I'm brushing up on looking down, I'm working on my BLAST!" _The girl mimicked using the trident with the sword in her hand, but the hard thrust out that she had done made her lose her balance, and fall backwards on her tail.

_"Thus far, a ratha, uninspiring thing." _The crab commented, crossing her claws in front of his shell as he stared down the young princess. The girl though, was hardly listening to his commentary, as she got right back up off the ground, and threw her arms out happily.

_"Oh I just can't wait to be Queen!" _Attina laughed, starting to swim off with Alana close on her fin strokes. Sebastian's eyes widened, as he quickly started to swim after the two girls, realizing that he could lose them easily in this crowded market place.

_"You've got a long way to go, young princess, if you dink..." _Sebastian finally caught up to the children, coming in between them both, huffing and puffing from the long swim.

_"No one saying do this." _Attina said, her voice thick with annoyance as she focused in on the crab to prove her point.

"_Now when I said that, I—" Sebastian tried to start, but was cut off by Alana. _

"_No one saying be there." _Alana challenged, catching onto this with her older sister, as she narrowed her eyes at Sebastian.

"_What I meant was..." _

"_No one saying 'stop that'!" _Attina mimicked the adult's voices which had forever told her to do such a thing.

"_Look, what you don't realize..." _Sebastian tried to reason with the Princesses, but his patience was starting to wear thin.

"_No one saying 'see here'!" _Both princesses shrieked at the same time to the crab, before morphing into giggles and swimming further into the crowd of people in the market place.

"_Now see here!" _Sebastian called, swimming after the two girls as fast as he could, his patience finally lost.

"_Free to swim around all day…" _Attina said dreamily, extending her arms and giggling happily at just the thought of it.

"_Well, that's definitely out..." _Sebastian's voice trailed off, as Attina's overpowered his.

"_Free to do it all __**my**__ way!" _Attina laughed again, swimming off with her sister. But Sebastian was starting to catch on, and before the girl's could go any further, he was in front of their faces.

"_I dink it's time that you and I arranged a heart to heart!" _The crab said, annoyance and the faint trace of frustration evident in his tone. But Attina merely shook him off.

"_Queens don't need advice from crustaceans for a start!" _The girl challenged outright, laughing as she intertwined her hand with her sisters and sped off deeper into the market place.

"_If this is where the monarchy is headed, count me out! Out of service, out of Atlantica, I wouldn't hang about! This child is getting wildly out of claw…" _

"_Oh, I just can't wait to be Queen!" _Attina giggled, spinning in circles with her younger sister. By now, the children who had wandered away from their mothers had gathered around the young princesses, hanging on their every word and creating a sort of following.

"_Everybody turn left!" _Attina called out, and all the children did as she commanded, their tails swishing behind them as they did, and therefore hitting Sebastian.

"_Everybody turn right!" _Attina called out again, and the children obeyed her, all of them giggling, and not paying attention that moving so fast made their tails swish behind them, and hit Sebastian once again.

"_Everywhere you look I'm, standing in the spotlight!" _Attina said proudly, raising herself up by swimming higher than the other children. But Sebastian would have none of it, as he mangaged—somewhat bruised and beaten—to swim up to the girl's face.

"_Not yet!" _The crab called out, trying, once and for all, to stop the eldest merprincess. But by now, the other children had joined in on the fun, as they gathered close towards Alana and Attina.

"_Let every creature go for broke and sing! Let's hear it in the school and on the fin! It's gonna be Queen Attina's finest fling!" _The children chanted, going to close towards the merprincesses and therefore squashing Sebastian as they all lifted the girl's up the air.

"_Oh I just can't wait to be Queen! Oh I just can't wait to be Queen! Oh I just can't waaaaaait ... to be Queen!" _

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**Just a quicky note here: I do not own this song, but I did take liberties with twisting the words around a little so that it fits the story. I hope none of you are really mad; I'm a huge fan of the original! **


	3. Chapter 3: The Human Floater Kelp Thingy

Attina and Alana giggled mostly to themselves, as they swam as fast as they could away from the market place. Upon losing Sebastian, the girl's had high tailed it out of there, and were now headed for the secret location Attina had found days earlier, when she'd snuck away from a school trip.

"That was awesome!" Alana finally said through her giggles, smiling fully, with her blue eyes dancing with happiness. "I never knew the market could be so great!"

"Oh that was nothing." Attina said mischievously. "Wait until you see what I found a few days ago." The girl bragged, her green eyes happy that she was able to lose Sebastian in the thick of the market by creating that distraction.

"Is it really neat?" Alana asked, tilting her head to the side rather adorably, as Attina, nodded, her eyes dancing happily.

"See for yourself." The older girl answered, pointing towards a looming, dark, shadowy shape. Squinting, Alana leaned in closer towards the thing…before suddenly jumping back, into her sister with wide eyes.

"Th-That's a…that's a…human floater thingy." The girl said in fear and in awe, about thirty feet from the large, sunken ship. Her parents had always warned her never to go near one, even one that was sunken.

"I know." Attina said, her mischief starting to leave her as it was replaced by fear. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all…as the oldest, Attina had to look out for her little sisters…and she didn't want Alana to get hurt…or for herself to get hurt. Settling the matter in her mind to leave immediately, Attina looked up. "Alana let's just…Alana! Don't!" The eight year olds panicked voice said, as she saw her seven year old sister had already swum off and was disappearing inside of the floater thingy.

Swimming as fast as she could, the girl slipped in through a large hole on the side of the floater thingy that had probably been the reason why it sank. Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment, Attina blinked a few times, before finally finding a shadowy body in a half opened closet thingy.

It was just like Alana to go to the darkest place in the big floater thingy, Attina thought to herself, optimistic that she would find her sister and then swim faraway from here. This place was starting to give her the creeps; she'd never wanted to go into it, only to show it to her sister and then swim away.

Coming to the closet like thing, Attina reached her hand into it, to grab her sister. But, what she grabbed…didn't feel like her sister. It felt…cold…and bony…and something tattered, like a blanket, was covering some parts of her sister. Furrowing her brows, the eight year old curiously tugged on what had to be her sister…and then screamed bloody murder when a skeleton fell on top of her.

Alana, who had somehow gotten lost and was trying to find her way out of this floater thingy, heard her sister's scream and jerked so hard that she her back hit a door. This movement made the rotting wood that was the door break down…and then something fell onto the girl.

Shaking, but not screaming yet, Alana gulped and slowly turned her head to the left, where she felt something cold resting on her shoulder. Slowly, her blue eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and she was able to make out…a skeleton hand. On her shoulder.

With a scream that could rival her sister's own just a moment before, Alana tore herself away from the hand and bolted through the floater thingy, the darkness hard for the girl to see where she was going. WHAM!

The seven year old hit face first into the side of the ship. Almost immediately, excruciating pain shot through her mouth. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes, and before she knew it, sobs were pouring out of her throat. Pressing a hand on her mouth, the girl was surprised to feel something coming off of it. Looking down at her shaking fingers, the girl squinted in the dim light…before Alana realized that her mouth was bleeding.

Giving a shriek of pain, the young seven year old swam through the opening that lead her directly below deck, and more importantly, to her sister, who was shaking like a fish about to be eaten by a shark. Upon noticing Alana clinging to her arm though, Attina gathered up what was left of her courage, and made herself stand up tall.

"Let's go!" The eldest merprincess's urgent voice said, not waiting for a reply from her sister as she grabbed Alana's hand and swam as fast from the floater thingy. Fortunately, Alana, though still frightened and in pain, agreed with her sister, and started to swim as faster than lightening.

Both girls kept swimming, as fast as they could, and as far away as they could from the floater thingy. They hardly noticed that they had entered, and were now deep inside of the kelp forest after about ten minutes of pure sprint-swimming. Finally stopping for a breather, both girls collapsed onto the ground, hoping that they never had to see anything so scary again.

"A-Alana? Wh-What's wrong with your mouth?" Attina asked shakily, panting softly still as she curled her tail closer to her small body. Alana looked up in surprise, still shaken from the whole experience of seeing a skeleton face to face. Putting her fingers gently to her mouth, she winced at the slight pain that radiated off of it. But when she opened her mouth, Attina sucked in a breath of surprise, her green eyes growing wide.

"What?" Alana asked, slightly frantic as she started to shake even harder in fear.

"Where's your front teeth?" Attina asked in slight curiosity, as Alana, alarmed, let her tongue slip over the spot where her teeth would be…and found that she had none. At this, the seven year old broke down into tears, sobbing so hard that it rocked her entire body.

Had Attina and Alana been older, they wouldn't have been so fearful about the sudden loss of Alana's two front teeth, since they were only baby teeth. But still only eight and seven, the girl's did not understand quite yet about losing baby teeth. Oh sure, they understood that when one of their teeth was loose, it would fall out. But that was only if their tooth was loose…not completely intact.

"Aw, it's okay Alana. Don't cry. It's just teeth; they'll grow back...I think." Attina said comfortingly to her younger sister, rubbing the girl's back as she had seen her mother do a thousand times over. Alana sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her arm as she looked up at her sister with a trembling lip.

"I wanna go home Attina. I wanna go home, _now_!" The seven year old stated, on the verge of even more tears. Attina nodded fervently, agreeing with her sister that all she wanted to do was go home. But as the girl looked around, she gave a gulp, suddenly not knowing how to get home.

"Stay right here. I'll be back in one minute." Attina ordered of the younger girl, making sure she saw her sister nod before she got up. Looking upwards, the girl summarized that if she could swim up high, she could see where the castle was, and then she could get home. It _was_ starting to get late after all…

Drawing herself up to her full height, Attina started to swim as far up as she possibly could. But the massive kelp towered over the young girl, and without a bigger, more powerful tail to help her swim up higher, Attina was unable to get past the all the kelp. Now, she was _really_ scared. Swimming back down, the eight year old tried her best to make it seem as though everything was fine, as to not scare her sister any more.

"C'mon. I know which way to go." Attina said optimistically, praying that by going forward she could somehow get out of this forest and back to her home. Alana sniffled, and rubbed her tongue in the place where her two front teeth could be in hopes of taking away the weird feeling of not having them there. Following her older sister, both girls started to try and find their way out of here.


	4. Chapter 4: Lost and Found

Have you ever gotten lost somewhere as a child? Do you remember that feeling that lay in the pit of your stomach? Do you remember looking left and right for your parents, or at least someone you know? Do you remember that feeling that would start to appear in the pit of your stomach? But…do you also remember that immense feeling of relief you had gotten when you found the person who had taken you on this trip in the first place? The person who made you feel safe sound, though minutes before you were on the verge of tears? Attina would have traded anything for that feeling.

The girl was hungry, scared, tired, hopelessly lost, and to top it all off, she could hardly see her hand right in front of her face. The only reason she hadn't lost Alana by now was that the girl's hands were connected together; otherwise both of them would have been split up, and even more terrified than they were. Every tiny sound made Attina jerk in fear, hoping that it wasn't a shark, or a giant octopus, or water snake, or eel, or—

"Attina? I'm tired." Alana said quietly, her voice a mere whisper in the giant kelp forest. It was _long_ past the girl's usual bedtime, and no matter how scared and cold and hungry she was, Alana couldn't fight off the sleepiness from her body any longer.

"Me too." Attina said with a yawn, before looking all around her. Kelp, darkness, kelp, darkness, kelp, darkness, kelp…there really wasn't much of a difference since an hour ago. This entire idea of ditching Sebastian to go see a human floater thingy had really back lashed on the poor girls. With nothing else to do, Attina gave a helpless sigh, before tugging her sister's hand and sitting with the girl on the cold, sandy ground.

"Let's go to sleep." Attina suggested, and she didn't have to be able to see in the darkness to know that Alana had thickly nodded and was now resting her head on her older sister's tail. The eldest merprincess took the quiet moment to look around once more at the darkness, before swallowing back her tears, and falling asleep herself.

But, her sleep was to be short lived, because about an hour later, the eight year old was woken by…something. It sounded like…like…kelp being pushed away, and away, and if the girl squinted, she could see a faint light in the darkness. However, in her young mind, the only conclusion the girl could come to about such a thing was that a dangerous animal was going to eat her and her sister.

"Alana, wake up!" The eldest merprincess shook the younger princess awake, certainly scared by now. "Do you hear that?" Perhaps, Attina's mind thought, she was just imagining it. Yes, that's it, it was all in her head!

"Ah huh." Alana answered, her exhaustion suddenly gone as she looked frantically at her sister. "What's that? Attina?" The seven year old questioned with a racing heart to the eight year old who swallowed in fear.

"I dunno." Attina answered, seeing the faint light and the noises start to come closer and become dramatically louder. Alana burst into tears, hugging her older sister for comfort as she sobbed in fear, and Attina shook horribly, about ready to cry herself.

"I wanna go home, I wanna go home!" Alana wailed pitifully loud, her sobs and cries enough to melt even the coldest heart. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die, I wanna go home!" Alana wailed even louder, fearing for her young life now as she let the sobs come pouring out.

"Shh! It'll hear you!" Attina hissed, clasping her hand over her younger sister's mouth to stop the girl's cries. But all she did was make Alana sob and wail louder than before, despite all the comforting her older sister tried.

The light was closer now, too close for comfort. The sounds were even louder than they had been before, and Attina squeezed her eyes shut as she willed herself not to cry. She was a big, eight year old girl! Big girls like her didn't cry! Big girls don't cry, big girls don't cry, the girl repeated mentally, as she felt her younger sister start to squeeze her so tightly that it became painful because the light was a moment away from reaching them. Big girl's don't cry, big girls don't cry, big girls don't—

"Attina! Alana! There you are!" A voice cried out…a warm, nice voice, that both girls could recognize anywhere. Before the girl had the chance to open her eyes, she was swept up in strong arms, and pressed tightly against the person in a hug. "Thank Neptune; I thought something had happened to you girls!" Attina felt herself giving the person a hug in return, as she nestled her head in his thick beard, almost crying from relief as she heard Alana shout out,

"Daddy!"


	5. Chapter 5: Hugs, Kisses, & Seven Things

Athena looked up at the clock, and gave a soft groan, burying her face in her hands. Where in Poseidon's waters could they _be_? She knew letting her two eldest daughters go to the market alone was a bad idea, she just knew it!

"They'll be fine, Athena, don't worry." Isn't that what her idiot husband had said hours ago to her?

'Fine indeed!' The Atlantican Queen growled to herself mentally. 'An eight and seven year old going to the market with Sebastian, an advisor, not a babysitter! A recipe for disaster!' Athena thought through gritted teeth. 'When Triton comes back, I swear…' The woman cursed mentally, promising herself to give her husband hell in the morning for letting their eight and seven year old daughters go off to the market place. Shaking her head and letting out everything in one heavy sigh, the Queen looked again towards the clock, for probably the millionth time.

She understood that _someone_ had to stay behind with the rest of their girls; and she knew that it was easier for everyone if she was the one to do so. But it wasn't like she didn't wish she could be out there searching for her two daughters too. That way she could keep her mind from wandering off and thinking of the worst possible things that could have happened to her little girls and she could stop worrying about her husband being out there in the dead of night. Did he have a trident to protect him in worst case scenario? Yes. Was Athena convinced he knew _how_ to properly use it without hurting anyone, or himself in such a scenario? Absolutely not.

Athena gave an impatient sigh, running her fingers through her knotted, long hair and grimacing. Patience was not one of her finer points, and right now, it was showing. With nearly half the guard out looking for the two young princesses, and her king, the woman knew that she should just sit down and relax, because it was only a matter of time until they found her girls…if they found her girls. The thought of it sent a shudder through the Queen, as she wrapped her arms around herself and gave another groan.

A sudden cry made Athena look up briefly, before she was bombarded by two bodies. Two, small bodies, to be exact. Blinking in surprise, it took the Queen a few good moments to realize who was hugging her, and for her to return the favor.

"Girls!" Had Athena's voice ever sounded so sweet, Attina wondered, holding tightly to her mother as she felt the woman hug her back just as tight. She could feel her face, every inch of it, being bombarded by kisses, and though she knew her mother was talking, her voice went over the girl's head as she just hugged the woman.

"I was really scared Momma, I was really scared, but I didn't cry at all. Not even a little bit! And I took care of Alana too! I was brave!" Her words came out in a rush, as Attina blearily looked up at her mother in the hope that the woman would say something about the girl's bravery.

"She was brave Momma. Really brave. When I lost my teeth, and I cried, Attina was really nice and she said—she said it was alright, and stuff." Alana clamored for her mother's attention as well as her sister, exhausted to the extreme, but still awake enough to let her mother know how brave her big sister had been throughout all of this.

"You lost your teeth? Let me see." Athena's smile faltered for a moment, as her gentle voice ordered her daughter to basically open her mouth. Alana did as she was told, and flashed…her gums.

"She lost her baby teeth." Triton explained tiredly with a chuckle, reaching down for a moment to lift up Attina in his arms. The eight year old gladly buried herself within her father's thick beard, her own words having worn herself out completely.

"So she did. So she did…" Athena's worn out voice said with a small laugh. Here she had been, on the edge of panic and worry for her little girls…and all Alana could care about was losing her two front teeth. Though her mouth was still a little bloody from whatever she had hit that had made her lose her teeth, Athena guessed that in the morning she'd clean the girl off and the child would have moved onto something more important. Looking over a moment at her oldest, who was already falling asleep in her father's big arms, Athena placed a gentle kiss on the girl's head.

"I'm proud of you, my big brave girl. You kept your little sister safe." The Queen murmured, before reaching down to lift up Alana, who was possibly falling asleep while standing up. Though the seven year old really was starting to get too heavy for this sort of thing…Athena didn't mind. She just pressed the child's head against her chest, praying she wouldn't break down into tears of relief that after hours of searching, they'd found her daughters safe.

"Goodnight girls." Triton's warm voice rumbled from his chest, making Attina curl herself even deep in her father's arms. In the distance, she could hear her mother saying something to her father…but she was too tired to comprehend what on earth the woman was talking about. And as the child started to drift off into dream land, her thoughts managed to arrange themselves in order, from the least important to the most important.

1. All boys had morrats.

2. She never wanted to see kelp again for as long as she lived.

3. Human floater thingy's were, quite possibly, the scariest things in sea.

4. When she was Queen, she'd do things _her_ way. The fun way.

5. She would always protect her little sisters.

6. She _really_ didn't want to ever see kelp again.

7. She wanted her Momma and Daddy to stay with her. Forever.

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Well, this was originally supposed to be a one shot, but somehow it managed to blow up into a five-shot (if such a thing even exists)! I originally got the idea for this mini story when watching The Lion King, about four months ago (yeah, it's been in my computer collecting dust for that long). I was listening to the 'I Just Can't Wait to be King' song, and I started to wonder about Attina, because she IS the oldest; wouldn't she want to be Queen? And lo and behold, this story came out!

**Alright, and with Athena in this chapter and the first chapter, I took a few liberties in developing her character further past the 'Mom who ends up dying' kind of thing. I wanted to make her seem like a real person, not just** this Barbie doll who made a stupid mistake and got killed because of it in the future. :) Can you please review and tell me how you like her character? Because if you do...well, there aren't really alot of one shots about her...and I do like writing one shots...

**Really though, this story is more or less to mark the anniversary of the first story I posted up on fanfiction. The anniversary was on the ninth, but I won't tell if you won't! Anyway, this is dedicated to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers for putting up with me for a year! Thank you all! **

**P.S. I know, I know, I'm wayyyy behind on my story Altered Reality! I'm wrapping up my current series story this week, so after that, I will be full Altered Reality all the time, okay? Sorry for the delay and please don't be too mad! **


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